Communications

Annabell Lee is an emerging curator with a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. Her work focuses on public exhibitions and cultural preservation, with a strong interest in documenting and presenting underrepresented voices. She has collaborated with artists and curators in Unseen, the 50th Anniversary exhibition for Women’s Art Register, What is Given at George Paton Gallery and interned at VMG Art Series, assisting with rotational exhibitions.

At the Women's Art Register, Annabell works on communications coordination, stakeholder engagement, archive digitisation and curatorial projects. She also works with Heide Museum of Modern Art and various cultural events, bringing a practical and methodical approach shaped by her Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Communications

Brianna Simonsen is a Melbourne-based Interior Designer who investigates the intersection between the Arts and Interiors through a speculative research approach. Graduating with First Class Honours from Interior Design at RMIT University in 2023, her major project deconstructed ideas around monumentalising and feminism. This work was exhibited in Bates Smart Gallery (2023) and George Paton Gallery, Melbourne University (2025).

In 2024, Brianna joined the Women’s Art Register with the intention to reconnect with a community of artists and to continue the questioning of feminism, and what this means, in different spaces.

Finance & Compliance

Christina is a designer-maker with more than 30 years experience in weave design and has been described as ‘a trailblazer in her field’ for being one of the first in Victoria to master the compu dobby loom. Christina would go on to lecture and mentor other students in this instrument; also lecturing in Computer Aided Design and Business Management at RMIT University, Studio Textiles. Currently Christina runs her own studio, producing textile pieces to wear.

Christina was our volunteer bookkeeper for over 16 years and oversaw significant change in technology for book-keeping, sharing her knowledge with committee members along the way. After a two year break she has rejoined the committee. Many WAR programs have benefited from Christina’s participation. Those more recent include the WAR 2015 AS IF: When and Now (member’s exhibition QV centre); 2017 Women in Art Forum (Richmond Theaterette); 2022 WAR stand at the Richmond Festival of Women (North Richmond Housing Estate); 2023 archiving volunteer WARPP project and SAVE AS (NGV as part of Melbourne Now).

Inclusion & Accessibility

Claudia Pharès is French-Canadian of Vietnamese-Egyptian descent. As an artist and a writer, she uses mother-centered feminism and autobiographical events to challenge misconceptions surrounding motherhood and invisible labour. In 2021–2022 she was guest editor of the W.A.R. Bulletin as well as the Artist-in-Residence in collaboration with And Also Presents.

She has exhibited and collaborated in various shows in Australia and online. She was shortlisted as a finalist for the Percival Portrait Prize (2022), the Athenaeum Club Visual Arts Research Award (2019) and the Incinerator Art Gallery Award for Social Change (2018, 2021). She has been a recipient of the City of Yarra Grants (2018, 2020). She holds an MFA (2020) from the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) and a BSc in Nursing (2004) from Laurentian University (Canada). Claudia lives in Naarm/Melbourne with her two children, and also works as a nurse.

Collection Management

Hilary Kwan is an emerging conservator holding a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation and a BA in Anthropology and History from the University of Melbourne. She specialises in object conservation, with a research interest in the collection management and conservation of polymer materials in contemporary art.

Hilary has previously worked at Museum Victoria as an exhibition assistant and interned at the National Trust, Grimwade Conservation Services and the UMSU Archive. Moving from Hong Kong to Melbourne deepened her passion for preserving cultural materials and promoting cultural diversity. Since joining WAR in 2021, Hilary has been managing WAR volunteers and coordinating projects in cataloguing, collection management, preventive conservation, education programs and WAR events.

Co-Secretary & Communications

Hunter Smith is an artist working in a studio-based and collaborative capacity across painting, drawing, video and writing. Her practice engages with extractivism, medical practice, industry and craft to contemplate land and reproductive rights in so-called Australia. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts and has shown her work in spaces across Victoria and Western Australia.

Volunteers & Membership

Kate Smith is a visual artist and writer. Her practice centres around ‘a sense of place’, exploring the whimsical nature of landscape and story. Her works have been shown in multiple exhibitions in Melbourne including the Melbourne Flower and Art Show (2024), Gertie Gallery and Feel Good Art Prize (2024). She completed her BA of Creative Arts majoring in Art and Literature (Australian Catholic University). Kate is a passionate writer of art history and is currently working on children's book illustrations.

Chair

Kirsty Gorter has been an exhibiting artist, teacher and unionist for over 50 years. Kirsty’s art practice includes drawing, painting, animation and sculpture. Today most work is mostly 2 and 3 dimensional textiles and found objects. Kirsty has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Kirsty taught full time in Secondary (1981–1994), TAFE and most recently fulltime at RMIT (1994–2022) in the School of Fashion and Textiles. Kirsty has been an active member of teaching unions; most recently as the RMIT AEU Sub-branch president (2006–2022).

Kirsty first joined the Women’s Art Register in 1983; was on the WAR Advisory Committee (1985–1988) & Management Committee (1988–1991); and re-joined the WAR committee as a general member in 2024. Since then as part of the WAR committee she has assisted in archiving and inducting volunteers; and as part the 2025 50th Anniversary celebrations, co-curated with Merren Ricketson, the exhibition Landmarks 75/25: 50 years of the Women’s Art Register at the George Paton Gallery at Melbourne University.

History & Education

Merren Ricketson was a sessional educator at the National Gallery of Victoria for over 30 years, working concurrently coordinating W.A.R, co-directing Artmoves and initiating education programs at various galleries including ACCA. She curated Top Arts and managed the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s Season of Excellence Festival working with student artists, designers, performers, musicians and filmmakers for over a decade. She then studied Auslan and worked with Deaf artists who provided guided tours in Auslan at the NGV prior to Covid. More recently she devised and delivered education and public tours for the Flesh after Fifty exhibition.

Co-Secretary

Wendy Li is an arts worker and a recent graduate of the Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. She interned at The Torch and ISEA International, during which time she managed the database, registered artworks and assisted in the completion of the Confined 15 exhibition. Her interest in archives led her to the Women’s Art Register, where she works on minute-taking, email management, archiving and content creation. Wendy is also a member of SIGNAL Curators and a gallery attendant at West Space.